Production and productivity of the area increased due to the support of improved crop varieties, training and experience sharing visits, technical supports etc,. by the program in collaboration with the respective woreda Agriculture offices and these intervention led to improved livelihood;
• Vegetable and highland fruit production is promoted and at the moment it is becoming common and being replicated to other areas and hence income of the community diversified, feeding habit improved as the community started to include vegetables and fruits in their daily meal, sustainable seed source is also created because the target farmers are linked to potential seed suppliers;
• Improved bull service support enhanced production and productivity of local breeds and thereby resulting in asset building and better income;
• The construction of veterinary and the promotion of community based TseTse Fly/ Trypanosomiasis control system reduced the incidence of livestock diseases. As a result, traction power improved, milk and meat production increased, cost of medication reduced, production and productivity increased which in turn brought significant change among the target households in the area of food and income security;
• The work done in the area of diversifying income generating alternatives helped the target households to create assets and enhanced their resilience capacity to shocks;
• The established and strengthened saving and credit cooperatives and their unions have greatly improved communities access to credit/financial service;
• Distribution of improved seeds and small ruminants through revolving and in-kind transfer system base respectively strengthened communities resource sharing culture apart from the economic benefits;
• Promotion of Farmers’ Market Organizations and the Union enabled the farmers to get reasonable farm get price and the ICT project helped to improve increase efficiency and effectiveness of the value chain promoters;
• The different capacity building supports in the area of soil and water conservation interventions encouraged farmers to implement biophysical soil and water conservation activities; increased the vegetation cover of the area. The promotion of fuel saving stoves reduced the pressure on natural resources and reduced the work burden on women and children and also the health situation the households;
• Promotion of alternative basic education through an approach called ACCESS significantly helped to reach several out of school children and improved school enrollment, reduced dropout and also increased primary level education coverage. In addition, ERSHA has been supporting the respective district education offices with the aim of improving education quality;
• The implemented water projects have considerably improved communities access to potable water and reduced the workload on women and children. This enabled them to have sufficient time for other important engagements such as education and to care themselves. As a result the incidence of water born diseases very much decreased contributing to health. The communities are also adopting better sanitation and hygiene
practices. To ensure the sustainability of the benefits, a community based management of the schemes is put in place;
• Awareness of the community on HIV/AIDS increased; vulnerability of the community and prevalence of new infection reduced; number of community members who come to VCT centers increased; stigma and discrimination of those infected and affected reduced;
• Promotion of women self help groups empowered women to mobilize their own resource through saving and creating access for internal loan among themselves; the weekly meeting discussion on social issues and the approach which encourages all members in leadership and management also enabled them to have confidence and take leadership positions in different structures such as kebele administrations and others;
• As indicated above, ERSHA always works with and through community based institutions and hence the community knows not only the output and outcomes of the activities but also the process; this created sense of ownership and commitment among the community and contributed a lot for sustainability of activities and benefits;
• Some of the practices are being replicated by non-project beneficiaries and this is a good indicator of success